Aluminum foil pans are widely used for the purposes of roasting and oven baking of large food items such as turkeys, hams, roasts and the like. Their wide use for these purposes is at least partly due to the fact that they are efficient in quickly distributing heat to the food item. Additionally, because aluminum foil roasting pans are inexpensive it is economically feasible to dispose of them after they are used. This permits users to avoid the inconvenience of cleaning soiled pans. A wide variety of shapes and sizes of disposable aluminum roasting pans of this type have been developed for use with the various types of food items when they are baked in ovens.
However, significant buckling and twisting problems are encountered when using many prior art disposable aluminum foil pans to bake heavy food items because the weight of these food items was often too heavy to be supported by the pan. These problems were particularly serious when the baking process has ended and the user of the roasting pan attempted to remove the pan from the oven while it was very hot. If there were liquids in the pan, such as cooking juices, gravy and the like when it was transported, the user was often required to take great care to prevent spillage and burns. Two people were often required so that they could grasp opposite ends of the disposable aluminum foil pan in order to hold it level while transporting it from the oven in order to prevent buckling and twisting of the pan. Buckling and twisting of disposable aluminum foil pans may cause the spilling of very hot cooking juices over the sidewalls of the roasting pans as well as indentations in the body of the pans. These indentations can lead to leaks of the juices.
Buckling and twisting of disposable aluminum foil pans was most likely to occur when they were formed of very thin aluminum sheet material. For example, disposable aluminum foil pans used for baking or broiling poultry may be formed of stamped aluminum sheet material with a thickness of 0.0065 inch or less. This thickness may make an aluminum foil pan suitable for supporting no more than twenty pounds without buckling and twisting problems.
Sometimes these prior art aluminum foil roasting pans were lifted from underneath using insulated gloves in order to prevent these problems. However, conventionally available gloves were sometimes not adequate to protect users of the roasting pans from getting burned under these circumstances because of the high temperature of the materials within the pans.
Additionally, when using these aluminum foil roasting pans it was a common practice to position the turkey, roast or other food item on the bottom of the roasting pan. This caused the turkey or roast to stick to the bottom of the roasting pan and to become partially submerged in their cooking juices during the cooking process. The cooking of food items while they are partially submerged in their juices in this manner is believed by some users to be unhealthy and to cause a displeasing quality.
Another problem associated with prior art disposable aluminum foil roasting pans was that they were not well adapted for serving the food item after roasting. Additionally, food items stored in these roasting pans tended to cool rather quickly after they were removed from the oven.
Thus, prior art disposable aluminum foil roasting pans buckled when heavy food items were transported, allowed the food items to cook partially submerged in their own juices, were not satisfactory for serving the food items baked therein, and allowed the food items to quickly cool after removal from the oven. Several attempts to solve these and other related problems have been made in the prior art.
For example, stamped crease lines have been provided in the bottom surface of some prior art aluminum foil roasting pans. These crease lines were effective to provide some reinforcement of the bottoms of the pans and to help prevent the buckling and twisting problems. These stamped crease lines have also been advantageously provided in the side walls of prior art disposable roasting pans in order to provide further reinforcement of the pans. However, the reinforcement provided by providing these crease lines in prior art roasting pans was often a limited improvement.
Additionally, it is known to provide disposable aluminum foil roasting pans with an upper curled-over lip around the upper edge of the pan sidewalls. These curled-over lips added a degree of rigidity and strength to the pan thereby further helping to avoid the buckling and twisting problems. However, due to the relatively small gauges commonly used for these roasting pans, and their generally flimsy nature, this kind of reinforcement often failed to prevent the pan from buckling or twisting as the user carried a filled pan to or from the oven.
A variety of outer support and internal support rack assemblies are known in the prior art for solving some of the problems encountered in the use of disposable aluminum foil pans. These prior art assemblies are typically designed to support the aluminum foil pan on an underlying support frame in some manner. For example, Anders, U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,038, taught an assembly for providing reinforcement of the underside of a disposable roasting pan. The reinforcing assembly taught by Anders thus allowed the use of thin aluminum sheet material to form the pans while providing a great deal more stability than prior art disposable pans.
Additionally, the reinforcing assembly of Anders was provided with handles to assist in carrying heavy food items. Although the reinforced disposable pan of Anders helped to prevent the problem of buckling due to the weight of heavy food items, it still permitted the food item to become partially submerged in its own cooking juices. Furthermore, this assembly was not suitable for serving the food items or keeping the food items warm after they were cooked in the disposable roasting pan.
Another disposable aluminum foil roasting pan known in the prior art provided stability comparable to that of the roasting pan disclosed in Anders while also providing legs to raise the pan to a convenient serving level. Raising the roasting pan in this manner permitted the roasting pan to be used conveniently as a serving pan. In addition to permitting more convenient serving another advantage of raising the roasting pan to this level was that it permitted placement of chemical or electric warming devices beneath the aluminum serving pan. Using this reinforcing and serving assembly food items could be served from the disposable pan and could be kept warm for extended periods of time. Because the stamped aluminum forming the disposable serving pan was substantially thinner than the steel usually used in other types of heated serving arrangements, food items could be kept warm with less energy.
Numerous other holders and racks have been used for conventional cooking receptacles. They are, however, not directed toward use with disposable type metal foil pans. Other holding frames require cooperative engagement between the frame and a boiler or roaster of a very rigid and thick design.
The present invention relates to improvements to an outer support and an internal support rack for a thin aluminum roasting pan for holding a heavy food item while the food item is cooked. The outer support of the present invention includes an upper support wire and lower support wires. The upper support wire of the outer support extends beneath the entire upper rim of the roasting pan and thereby provides support for the upper rim. The lower support wires of the outer support provide longitudinal and transverse support to the bottom surface of the roasting pan. The height of the upper support wire may be selected to cause the bottom of the roasting pan to be spaced apart from the lower support wires. Both the outer support and the internal support rack are provided with handles. The handles of the internal support rack rest near the handles of the outer support thereby permitting them to be grasped simultaneously. The handles provided on the internal support rack permit the internal support rack to be used alone to transport the food item to a cutting surface or other destination. The internal support rack is provided with zigzag cross supports which help prevent the food item from coming in contact with the bottom of the pan. In addition, the legs of the internal support rack hold the food item away from the bottom of the pan so that the food item does not stick to the bottom of the pan and does not cook in its own grease. The outer support and the internal support rack may be reused.